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Gnosticism: Gnostic Jesus
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In Gnosticism, Jesus Christ is seen as this special messenger. All Gnostics rejected the idea of God becoming incarnate, dying and rising again because matter is evil. True spirit would never mingle with matter. Still, all Gnostics did believe Jesus as someone taken over by the this special spiritual redeemer ("Christ") from God. This spirit or "Christ" used Jesus' vocal cords but never experienced human life. The spiritual redeemer who entered into Jesus departed prior to the cross.
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The Person of Jesus Christ is another area where Christianity and Gnosticism drastically differ. The Gnostics believe that Jesus’ physical body was not real, but only “seemed” to be physical and that His spirit descended upon Him at His baptism, but left Him just before His crucifixion. Such heretical views destroy not only the true humanity of Jesus, but ... the atonement, for Jesus must not only have been truly God, but also the truly human (and physically real) man who actually suffered and died upon the cross in order to be the acceptable substitutionary sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 2:14–17). The biblical view of Jesus affirms His complete humanity as well as His full deity.
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The name Gnosticism, being derived from the Greek word for knowledge gained by experience, is a reflection of their view of epistemology (source of knowledge). They see truth as coming from mystical experiences which allow the person to climb a spiritual ladder towards God. Truth is therefore subjective to each person and his or her own experience. The Bible, on the other hand, argues that God is truth and the disseminator all truth. This truth is revealed in the Bible, in general, and in the Person of Jesus Christ who said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6. Access to God is not by means of scaling a latter of spirituality, but by coming to know Jesus Christ as Savior.
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The preceding passages are samples which show the differences between Gnosticism and orthodox Christianity. Gnosticism is more of an introspective teaching or philosophy to live by. It is quite different to say Jesus talked of the mind as being a light which serves as a personal guide than to quote him as saying, "Do not hide your light under a basket." In the latter quote he seems to be directing the disciples to use their spirituality and influence to persuade and direct others which the Church has done for many years.
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[T]here has been an increasing number of scholars who have interpreted the ApocAd either as a Christian document or as a product of late rather than early Gnosticism. The Berliner Arbeitskreis für koptisch-gnostische Schriften notes that the figure 'upon whom the Holy Spirit descends' is clearly Jesus.86 W. Beltz contends that the series of thirteen kingdoms and the kingless generation are all explanations for the birth of Jesus.87 G. Shelirude presented evidence for a Christian provenance of the ApocAd at the 1979 Oxford conference.88
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Gnostic Jesus